••••• 

F 


TOUCHES    AND    HINTS. 


RHYMES, 


READ  AT  THE  SECOND  GRAND  ANNUAL  CELEBRATION  OF 

IOTA  CHAPTER  OF  THE  ZETA  Psi  FRATERNITY, 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


SAN   FKANCISCO: 

PRISTKli  BY   JOS.   WIKTEEBUKN    &   CO.,  BOOK  AND  JOB  PEINTEKS, 
No.  417  Clay  Street,  between  Sansome  and  Battery. 

1874. 


TOUCHES    AND    HINTS. 


RHYMES, 


CHARLES      A.     SUMMER 


READ  AT  THE  SECOND  GRAND  ANNUAL  CELEBRATION  OF 

IOTA  CHAPTER  OF  THE  ZETA  Psi  FRATERNITY, 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


SAN   FRANCISCO  : 

PRINTED  BY   JOS.   WINTEBBURN    &   CO.,  BOOK  AND  JOB  PEINTERS, 
No.  417  Clay  Street,  between  Sansome  and  Bat'ery. 

l874. 


RHYMES 


PHARLES  ft. 


It  seems  as  if  the  gracious  Will, 
That  hollowed  out  the  bay, 

And  smote  the  outer,  rock-ribbed  hill, 
To  ope  a  golden  way 

For  sea  and  ship,  for  home  and  hope, 

Was  equal  in  behest 
That  man  should  plant  on  yonder  slope 

The  College  of  the  West. 

The  long,  low  beach  of  sedge  and  vines  ; 

The  slow-retreating  plain ; 
The  emerald  upland,  which  reclines 

Against  the  mountain  chain, — 

Whose  steep  ascent  and  swelling  girth 

Lend  dignifying  powers 
To  that  choice  spot  of  all  the  earth 

For  academic  towers  ! 


O,  beauteous  scene  for  brain  and  heart, 
Our  students'  life  beguiles  ; 

The  sleeping  vale,  the  teeming  mart, 
The  ocean  and  the  isles. 

With  ever  varied,  shifting  phase 

Of  motion  and  repose  ; 
With  morn's  impenetrable  haze, 

With  evening's  go-rgeous  close  ! 


TOUCHES    AND    HINTS. 

With  shimmering  noon,  and  glittering  night, 

Of  such  translucent  beam 
As  on  the  meditative  sight 

Revives  the  Berkeleyan  dream  ! 

Where  wintry  snows  are  never  known, 

Nor  enervating  heat  ; 
Within  the  soft  isotheral  zone, 

A  sure  and  perfect  seat. 

Where  nature  for  the  site  supplies 

The  Oracles  of  Fate, 
A  bounteous  wisdom  justifies 

The  Nation  and  the  State. 

And  thanks  to  many  a  noble  friend, 

Of  unsectarian  aim, 
Whose  large  endowments  here  descend 

With  honor  to  his  name. 

And  thanks  for  toil  in  leading  chairs, 

By  men  of  cultured  skill, 
Who,  mid  a  thousand  teasing  cares, 

Have  kept  an  even  will. 

Auspicious  History  !     From  this  page 

We  lift  a  trustful  gaze  ; 
Though  weightiest  issues  mark  the  Age, 

And  anarchies  amaze. 

Strong  Fort  of  Faith  !     Assaults  are  vain. 

Thy  banners  never  furled ! 
While  Time  may  last,  thou  shalt  retain 

The  Outlook  of  a  world  ! 


TOUCHES    AND    HINTS 

Fair  priestess  !  who  shall  yet  indite 
Ten  thousand  glorious  names  ; 

With  reverent  sentiments  to-night, 
We  dare  invoke  thy  flames ! 

"  Room  for  Reformers  !  with  their  sovereign  plan 
To  heal  or  mitigate  the  woes  of  man." 
The  cry  is  ancient  as  our  Nation's  time, 
Yet  born  anew  in  every  tapster's  rhyme. 
The  field  has  widened  at  each  fresh  demand, 
Till  desk  and  forum  ope  on  every  hand. 

GIVE  HEED,  O  PEOPLE  I  is  the  prophet  shout, 

Of  those  whose  theory  is  the  "Latest  out." 

Nor  less  potential  is  the  summons  borne 

To  found  a  sect  or  lift  a  race  forlorn  ; 

Or  force  a  city  corner  upon  corn. 

Alike  their  dignity,  and  the  crowd  to  back : 

The  long-eared  medium  and  the  short-haired  quack. 

The  simple  truths  our  patriot  Fathers  saw, 

Sketched  in  resolve  and  molded  into  Law  ; 

By  which  in  perils  unsurpassed  they  stood —       , 

Built  with  their  bones,  cemented  with  their  blood  :— 

Are  all  too  narrow  for  the  modern  seer, 

Whose  wondrous  License  strikes  the  popular  ear  ! 

Whose  published  writ  is,  Readiness  for  "  fame," 

Won  through  a  bloodless  martyrdom  of  shame. 

Pretending  now  a  scientific  lore, 

And  now  a  message  from  the  '  other  s'lore.' 

In  either  case  prepared  to  tell,  in  terms, 

The  grandest  compound  and  the  primal  germs. 

Rehearsing  nonsense  in  exultant  tone, 

As  if  the  lectures  made  creation  groan. 
2* 


0  TOUCHES    AND    HINTS. 

In  any  case,  prepared  to  scoff  and  sneer 
At  every  custom  decency  holds  dear  ; — 
Seducing  ignorance  with  lascivious  charms, 
And  healthy  conscience  stinging  with  alarms. 

Such  are  Outriders,  on  the  secular  coasts, 
For  less  unselfish,  less  courageous  hosts ; 
Who  now  disclaim,  and  afterwards  suggest 
The  "  Progress  "  programme  may  be  for  the  best  ? 
With  cunning  glance,  to  note  in  every  move 
The  points  debauched  communities  approve  ; 
Lest  they  should  fail  to  pander,  just  in  time, 
To  some  new  doctrine,  vicious  but  "sublime  !" 

See  worthy  subjects  for  the  prison  lock 
Unblushing  labor  with  the  corporate  stock, 
To  cover  up  the  robbery  of  a  ring, 
Or  fast  enthrone  some  great  monopoly  king; 
Until  the  people,  rising  in  a  storm, 
Announce  their  temper  for  a  real  Reform. 
When  Lo  !  the  foremost,  with  the  loudest  cheer, 
These  rear-guard  veterans  suddenly  appear  ! 
Their  functions  now,  a  double  game  of  cheat  : 
Shape  voted  verdicts  to  a  flat  defeat  ; 
The  while  they  make  their  own  promotion  sure, 
And  preach  a  flattering  gospel  to  the  poor. 
Then  in  some  office,  lucrative  and  warm, 
They  whisper  sadly  of  a  lost  Reform  ! 

Behold  the  highest  council  in  the  land ! 

What  men  dishonored  !  and  what  rogues  command  ! 

The  jovial  scoundrel  (or  the  lucky  fool) 

Rich  from  his  Ventures  in  a  gambler's  pool, 

For  bigger  tricks,  or  personal  regard, 

Concludes  to  take  the  Senatorial  card. 


TOUCHES    AND    HIX1S. 

Instant  proclaims,  in  condescending  tone, 

His  champion  platform,  as  the  "Laborers  own  " ! 

Secures  his  organs  by  a  brand  new  "  dress," 

A  monthly  stipend,  and  a  mammoth  press. 

Pensions  electors  and  the  hovering  scribes 

Who  write  his  speeches  and  discount  his  bribes. 

Assumes  the  toga  with  an  easy  air, 

And  flings,  off-hand,  the  talks  his  friends  prepare. 

(Reminding  cronies— in  their  private  chat,— 

"  Though  wit  had  prestige,  we've  reformed  all  that.") 

Who  shall  these  workings  and  these  powers  abate  ? 
Inform  the  masses  and  preserve  the  State  ! 
Where  will  you  find  the  valorous  strength  and  will 
To  push  these  creatures  from  the  seats  they  fill  ? 
Who  shall  come  forward  and  combine  to  raise 
The  social  standard  of  our  earlier  days  ; 
When  thieves  by  purchasing  official  place 
Could  not  obtain  an  honest  household's  grace  ; 
When  those  whose  name  no  stamp  of  honor  bore, 
Would  not  presume  to  cross  the  good  man's  door. 

Behold  the  masters  of  the  daily  "Press  "! 
Whose  broadening  power  is  almost  measureless. 
How  few  perceive,  confess,  and  trembling  bear 
The  moral  burdens  in  the  realm  they  share  ? 
How  many  to  such  high  position  bring 
The  view  and  purpose  of  a  sordid  thing. 
Perhaps  buy  out,  and  run  with  vengeful  cast, 
Some  well-born  journal  with  an  honored  past. 
Breed  typhoid-tumults  o'er  a  clerkship  wrong  ; 
Misquote  large  markets,  and  old   "Jobs"  prolong. 
Inlay  their  columns  with  the  tales  that  smirch, 
And  pass  the  platter  in  the  wealthiest  church. 


TOUCHES    AND    HINTS. 

Spurn  trifling  offers  from  the  babbling  trade. 
And  keep  their  virtue  on  a  dress  parade ; 
Maintain  their  cipher  at  the  thousandth  score, — 
And  shed  contempt  on  every  dollar  store. 
Let  others  falter  with  a  timid  qualm, — 
Their  voice,  we  know,  is  always  for  Reform. 

A  tearful  pity  touches  the  distress 

Of  those  compelled  to  read  our  neutral  Press. 

Where  circumstantial  suppositions  surge, 

In  reckless  grammar,  to  the  very  verge 

Of  dire  conclusions  on  the  mooted  head, 

Of  what  was  once  surmised  to  have  been  said. 

Who  can  presume  to  adequately  greet 

The  fervid,  candid,  superficial  sheet  ? 

Where  every  flabby  "  Reformation  "  scheme, — 

Creed  of  fanatic,  and  the  sick  man's  dream, — 

Is  treated  gently,  — in  a  savant  style, 

Proudly  repressive  of  the  reader's  smile. 

Where  every  day,  in  paragraph  and  lines, 

The  special  hobby  of  the  tripod  shines  ;  — 

In  tireless  iteration  making  known 

A  Balance  Regulator,  all  his  own  ! 

A  short,  infallible,  perspicuous  code, 

Which  sets  each  subject  his  appropriate  load. 

The  very  rich  shall  all  the  taxes  pay  ; 

The  very  poor  need  only  vote  and  play. 

The  prentice  builders  shall  their  wages  rate, 

And  draw  an  extra  tribute  from  the  State ; 

While  those  who  mark  the  trestle-board  and  chart, 

Must  take  their  income  in  a  love  of  Art. 


TOUCHES    AND    HINTS. 

Who  shall  expose  the  communistic  scamps  ? 
Combat  agrarians,  and  the  lecturing  tramps  ? 
To  real  complaints  appropriately  reply  ; 
To  borrowed  doubts  return  the  reasons  why  ? 
With  pleasing  humor  dissipate  their  chaff, 
And  send  their  problems  to  the  idiot's  laugh. 
Incline  the  people  for  the  public  weal, 
To  crush  their  counsels  with  contemptuous  heel ; 
The  mighty  gulfs  resistlessly  present, 
'Twixt  just  ambition  and  vile  discontent ; 
Illumne  anew  the  pathway  and  the  scope 
Of  careful  judgment  and  a  healthy  Hope  ? 

For  such  a  service— welcomed  in  the  van— 
Expect  the  College  educated  man  ! 
To  some  a  special  and  a  noble  call  : 
A  sphere  of  duty,  more' or  less,  to  all. 

»A»C»CFT  LiBft**., 

What  though  uncounted  thousands  never  own 
The  debt  in  such  essential  service  grown  ? 
What  though  a  legion  cannot  understand 
That  any  dangers  shadow  o'er  the  land  ? 
And  least  of  all,  suspect  explosive  force 
From  such  a  shallow,  freedom-prating  source  ? 
Though  every  warning  is  decried  and  hissed, 
The  threats  portentious  and  the  debt  exist. 

And  O,  the  grateful  tribute,  on  this  score, 
Due  the  alumni  who  have  gone  before ! 

Enough  of  surface  thinking  in  the  land.. 
Sufficient  privilege  at  each  youth's  command. 
More  than  enough  of  Proverb  lure  extant,  — 
Oft  wreathed  in  context  of  revolting  cant. 


10  TOUCHES    AND    HINTS. 

As  well  predict  a  harvest-field  of  grain 

On  arid  hill-side  or  Sahara  Plain, 

From  equinoctials  and  the  lunar  heat; 

As  with  the  tribes  of  ignorant  conceit 

Rely  alone  for  fructifying  powers 

On  wealth's  rewards  and  moral  saw-dust  showers. 

The  need  momentous  is  the  souls  combined 

With  quick,  electric,  cultivated  mind; 

At  whose  decree  economies  shall  rest 

Beneath  profound,  inexorable  test. 

With  no  detraction  of  the  highest  force 

We  speak  emphatic  for  the  College  course. 

Since  history's  pages,  at  each  calm  review, 

Approve  the  framers,  "  wiser  than  they  knew." 

The  fostered  relish  for  established  fact, — 

The  root  of  structure  and  the  sum  exact. 

The  mental  habits  which  the  schools  have  shown, 

Wed  to  the  nerves  and  bred  into  the  bone. 

The  days  appointed  and  the  tasks  assigned 

To  try  the  vigor  of  the  pupil's  mind, 

Before  a  bench  of  criticizing  friends, 

Wrhose  cheering  counsel  with  their  censure  blends. 

The  builded  will  to  check  the  Fancy's  haste, 

And  make  it  wait  on  judgment  and  on  taste. 

The  fine  attrition  in  the  class  retreat, 

Mid  growths  of  friendship, — never  more  so  sweet! 

The  duress  for  self-introspection  keen; 

The  hard,  remorseless  wearing  of  the  green. 

The  glorious  sovereignty  which  this  drill  implies 

To  summon,  portion,  point,  and  focalize; 

Till  given  topics  at  the  chosen  hours 


TOUCHES    AND    HINTS.  II 


Feel  the  white  burning  of  harmonious  powers; 

With  not  a  faculty  allowed  to  roam 

Till  law  and  contrast  drive  the  statement  home. 


Yast  opportunities  denote, 

The  deepening  want  for  men, 

Whose  discipline  shall  antidote 

The  shams  of  speech  and  pen. 

Whose  quenchless  passion  for  the  truth 
Shall  find  a  scholar's  art, 

As  from  the  fresh,  brave  soul  of  youth 
The  fit  suggestions  start. 

Here  grandest  fruits  of  sound  review 

In  physics  and  in  thought, 
With  all  the  lights  of  Science  new, 

Instructingly  are  brought. 

Here  for  Life  Tournaments  we  bid, 
With  Learning  and  with  Love; 

Where  Logic's  iron  hand  is  hid 
Within:the  knightly  glove. 

Priestess  of  Wisdom !     In  whose  torch 

The  lights  of  satire  play: 
Grant  its  imparted  fires  may  scorch 

The  falsehoods  of  the  day. 

Priestess  of  Wisdom !     Genial  glow, 
The  censers  by  thy  side.     • 

Inspire  the  God-sons  thou  shalt  know 
With  warmth  of  manly  pride. 


12  TOUCHES    AND    HINTS. 

And  guard  the  children  of  thy  heart, 
Linked  in  a  mystic  grace, 

As  from  thy  altars  they  depart, 
To  take  their  waiting  place. 

No  vaunt  of  spirit  or  of  mien, 

No  over-zeal  for  strife; 
But  ready  for  each  earnest  scene 

That  consecrates  a  life. 


